Service providers, such as a multiple system operator (MSO), typically provide broadcast television and video on demand services to a large number of subscribers over a shared medium, such as a hybrid fiber coaxial network. Such service providers are increasingly adding non-video services, such as telephone services, audio services, and high speed data access services, over the same shared medium. Because of the finite bandwidth of the shared medium and the large number of subscribers using the shared medium, during peak usage times the shared medium may become loaded to capacity, preventing the service provider from offering a requested service to one or more subscribers. The inability to provide a requested service over the shared medium inevitably leads to subscriber dissatisfaction, and may inhibit the service provider from generating additional revenue, such as when the requested service is a video on demand request from a subscriber.
Until relatively recently a service provider provided all broadcast television channels over the shared medium irrespective of whether each of the television channels had viewers. Consequently, valuable bandwidth of the shared medium might be consumed by one or more channels that have no viewers. With the advent of newer technologies, such as switched digital video, a service provider can now selectively provide channels over the shared medium depending on whether there are viewers of the respective channels. Channels that have no viewers will not be provided over the shared medium, and consequently will not consume bandwidth of the shared medium. This ability to selectively provide broadcast programming on an as-requested basis frees bandwidth of the shared medium for other services. Unfortunately however, a channel must be provided over the shared medium if only a single subscriber requests the channel. Thus, a number of very low viewership programs may utilize the same amount of bandwidth as a number of very high viewership programs. In such a situation, and especially at peak usage times of the shared medium, it is preferable for the service provider if viewers of low viewership programs can be influenced to select high viewership programs, freeing up bandwidth for additional services for other viewers, such as video on demand services.